Dec 15, 2015 | Cardsmith, Productivity, Project management, Strategy, Thinking tools, Uncategorized, Work
At Cardsmith, we spend a lot of time thinking about project management. I’m not just referring to making project management faster, more responsive, and more rewarding. We also reflect on what it means to “manage” a project and, beyond that, how we define and... 
Nov 24, 2015 | Cardsmith, Creativity, Portland, Productivity, Project management, Strategy, Thinking tools, Uncategorized, Work
The other day, I had lunch with a friend of mine, Kevin. Kevin had some bad news and some not-so-bad news to share. His tale demonstrates the value of visual tools — and yet another example of how sticky notes make people productivity rockstars. The bad news was... 
Nov 16, 2015 | Cardsmith, Creativity, Design, Portland, Productivity, Project management, Startups, Strategy, Thinking tools, Work
How are people using Cardsmith? We sat down with one particular user this week to find out her story. Ann Sanderson is a planning machine. As a small business owner and political activist, she needs to be able to keep all her projects organized and track their... 
Sep 21, 2015 | Cardsmith, Portland, Productivity, Project management, Startups, Strategy, Thinking tools, Uncategorized, Work
I’m a fan of a weekly meeting when working with a small team on a creative project that goes for many weeks or months. In a well-functioning team, a well-executed collaborative meeting of no more than one hour sets a kind of cadence that energizes and aligns the... 
Mar 12, 2015 | Cardsmith, Creativity, Play, Portland, Productivity, Startups, Strategy, Things we love, Thinking tools, Work
“My name is Monica Borrell and I love sticky notes.” No, this isn’t a confession of an addiction (while our team may think so sometimes), it’s a proud statement of fact by our founder and CEO. This love of sticky notes actually inspired Monica to create... 
Dec 4, 2014 | Productivity, Project management, Strategy, Thinking tools
The definition of a project includes that it is a temporary endeavor. We do, after all, want to finish it at some point. Projects have a beginning and an end. And, like a trip, it pays to know where you are going before you start. If you’re going to plan a...